An initial effort to block the land use application of a neighboring property owner by the Lake Comegys Townhouse Association has grown into a full-bore operation to protect all three lakes in the Rehoboth Beach area with the formation of Save Our Lakes 3 (SOLA3).
“We are in the Guinness Book of World Records,” said SOLA3 President Tony Burns of Silver Lake, Lake Comegys and Lake Gerar. “These are not only the most easterly lakes on the Atlantic, they are the closest freshwater lakes to the ocean in the world. What we have is not just a natural treasure, but a world treasure.”
SOLA3 came about when neighbors learned of the application by Lake Comegys property owners James and Jane Gibson to build three townhomes on a quarter-acre parcel. Lake Comegys is located between the municipalities of Rehoboth and Dewey, so the process is in Sussex County’s jurisdiction.
However, the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners Association, past Rehoboth planners Mary Campbell and Mabel Granke, as well as Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, have mobilized to help prevent the application from being approved.
“We’ve voted unanimously to give support to opposing the Gibsons’ application,” said Rehoboth Beach Homeowners Association President Stan Mills. “We want to lend you our support. Our interest in joining your coalition flew out of a direct correlation - the health of our lakes is one of our top priorities.”
“The application is totally out of character with the area,” said Schwartzkopf.
Burns realizes the Gibson application is not the entire problem though.
“They are a small part of a much larger problem that affects all these lakes,” he said. “If the county were to allow this, what is going to stop another huge complex? Our whole environment will be changed. We hope [Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control] Secretary John Hughes will get involved. The goal is, we’re small here, but it’s a big problem.” Burns said.
Campbell represented the property owners along Lake Gerar, where she lives. “I have contacted all the property owners along the north shore of Lake Gerar, a community founded in 1921,” she said. “I would say, without contention, they give their support.”
Mills offered to round up other associations and coalitions in the area to see if they would be interested in helping out their cause.
While the Gibsons’ house will be SOLA3’s first issue, they intend to become advocates for the entire lake system in Rehoboth. Anyone interested in joining SOLA3 is invited to contact Tony Burns at saveourlakes3@aol.com.
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